


Recurrence

by sapphire_child



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Creepy, F/M, Gen, Pete's World, Pete's World Torchwood, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-01
Updated: 2009-01-06
Packaged: 2019-01-27 23:22:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12592840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphire_child/pseuds/sapphire_child
Summary: When a young Torchwood employee seemingly becomes afflicted by the same force that the Doctor faced on Midnight it’s a race against time for him to try and save her life before the situation escalates out of control.





	1. Chapter 1

“So what exactly are we potentially dealing with here sir?”

Sebastian Cook sighed good naturedly at his younger counterpart. It was her first field mission and she looked nothing short of terrified, twitching and fidgeting in the passenger seat.

“Jodie,” he kept his tone light, jibing her. “You know you don’t need to call me sir. Seb will do fine.”

Jodie’s face coloured until her abundance of freckles disappeared. “Sorry,” she muttered.

“Don’t be,” Seb said, doing his best to concentrate on the terrain. “And to answer your question, I have no idea what we’re dealing with. Some farmer found a bloody great metal canister in the middle of one of his fields and we’ve been sent out to make sure that it’s not of extra terrestrial origin.”

“Or dangerous?”

“Or dangerous,” Seb agreed. “And if it’s either of those things then we’re going to need to deal with it.”

Jodie fell silent as Seb manoeuvred the four wheel drive around a particularly slushy looking section of grass. Torchwood had good cars with good suspension, but having to drive around the countryside like this was still a pain.

“Why do aliens always have to drop their rubbish in the middle of nowhere?” Seb muttered as they crested a small hill and the canister came into view.

“Bloody hell,” Jodie breathed, her grip tightening on the strap of her bag. “I didn’t think it’d be this big!”

“Yeah well,” Seb grunted as he pulled the car up a good hundred yards away and turned the ignition off. “Somebody’ll have to get a helicopter in to get rid of this thing – it’ll take too long to get a Zeppelin out this far into the sticks.”

The two of them regarded the canister a moment longer and then Seb unclipped his seat belt with a sigh.

“Come on then. Let’s go get this over with.”

He took the walk slowly, letting Jodie carry most of the heavier equipment. He’d been having trouble with his back lately – no doubt a by product of years spent chasing after aliens. For some reason they seemed to have a penchant for grabbing him and throwing him around like a rag doll. Even with physiotherapy and pain medication his bones couldn’t take anywhere near as much stress as they used to.

Jodie was the opposite, young and bright with hair the colour of fire and enough energy and strength to make up for his lack thereof. She had just finished a year of army reserve training after studying astrophysics at the University of Kent and despite her relative youth she was rapidly moving up through the ranks at Torchwood.

“So what first?” Jodie asked nervously, rummaging through her bag. “Scan for life? Radiation check?”

“Check the radiation levels first,” Seb said distractedly as he paced the length of the canister. It was quite long and a startlingly bright, mid blue. It glittered strangely in the weak sunlight – maybe it was some kind of metal alloy? – and had a relatively rough surface. No obvious marks or damage, not even burn marks from the atmosphere. Eyes still fixed on it, Seb gestured vaguely at the bag that Jodie was still fumbling within. “Can you pass me the measuring...?”

Jodie all but dove headfirst into the bag and Seb waited impatiently as she found the hand held device and passed it to him. He nodded his thanks and then began to scan the canister to obtain the exact length, width and girth while she began her preliminary radiation check. As they worked however, Seb couldn’t help but notice the anxious expression puckering her face, nor her white knuckled hold on the device in her hands.

“Calm down would you?” Seb remarked after a while, his voice sharp. “You’re more likely to make a mistake if you’re worked up. And making a mistake out here could mean that neither of us get to go home at the end of the day. Alright?”

If anything Jodie only looked more terrified at his words and Seb paused to scrub at his eyes. He was used to taking experienced agents out in the field with him. Normally there’d be at least two others out on a mission as big as this, but most of Torchwood’s best field agents were tied up with a rather messy crash landing in Kensington and so he’d gotten lumped with a girl barely out of her teens.

Watching her jittery progress around the perimeter of the canister, Seb made a note to sit her down when they got back to Torchwood One and have a chat to her. She was very clever and incredibly promising for her age – and she was definitely one of the brightest and most enthusiastic people he’d worked with in a while. But at the moment she was too busy worrying to do her job correctly.

In his hands the measuring device chirped, signalling that it had finished its job. Seb saved the data then waited until Jodie had finished scanning for radiation and given him the all clear before stepping forward and laying a gloved hand cautiously against the strange canister.

“Stone cold,” he reported. “Strange. It looks like it’s almost...organic.”

Raising his hand he rapped sharply on the canister to determine if it was hollow.

A moment later there was a returning echo from inside.

Jodie leapt back with a half-choked scream and Seb shushed her.

“Is there something inside?” she blurted. “Oh my God!”

“Possibly,” Seb knocked again and there was a short pause before whatever was inside knocked back. “Fascinating...”

Jodie meanwhile looked nothing short of terrified. “Jodie,” Seb said, trying to bring her back into focus. “It’s alright. There might not even be anything inside – it’s probably just a delayed echo.”

Jodie bit her lip and took a breath before moving forward and placing a careful hand on it.

“See?” Seb said, smiling. “Nothing to...”

The knocking from inside boomed out suddenly, louder than before, and this time Jodie didn’t even try to contain herself. She screamed loud and long, backing away frantically.

“It was right under my hand!” she gabbled, pointing at the canister. “Like it...like it knew where I was standing!”

“Jodie...” Seb beckoned to her with his hand and after a moment she began to edge around the crater towards him, eyes popping, keeping as much distance between herself and the canister as possible.

But then the banging started up again, chasing her along the length of the crater and she began to scream, terrified. “Don’t let it get me! Oh my God Sebastian – don’t let it get me!”

“Jodie...!” Seb began to make his away around the canister to meet her halfway but as he broke into a sideways run there was a sudden burst of air and light and he was on his back in the dirt.

Blinking away the bright whiteness, he took stock of his limbs as his sight returned. Nothing seemed broken – just bumped and bruised – so he sat himself up carefully and looked around to make sure that Jodie was alright.

What he saw made him gasp.

The canister, which previously had been nearly fifteen feet long, had compacted to the size of a soft drink can. And on the other side of the crater its original landing had created was Jodie, crouched and curled in on herself like a wounded animal.

Seb rose carefully and began to make his way carefully across the crater towards her.

“Jodie?” he said softly. “Jodie can you hear me? Are you hurt?”

There was a moment in which Jodie stayed crouched, immobile next to the crumpled remains of the canister and then she swung around and fixed Seb with such a stare that he actually stumbled backwards and fell on his behind.

Her pupils were like pinpricks, her pale eyes fervent and alert, watching Seb’s every move.

“Jodie?” he said tentatively.

Eyes still blank, Jodie cocked her head and then spoke, her voice slow.

“Jodie?”

Non-plussed, Seb knelt into an awkward crouch and peered anxiously into her face.

“Are you alright?” he asked loudly. “Are you hurt?”

“Are you alright?” she returned. “Are you hurt?”

Seb stood and scratched his head. Jodie stared at him, occasionally twitching when he made a sudden move. He stared at her a moment longer, glanced around at the crater and what remained of the canister and then grimaced as he bent and scooped her up. She didn’t protest, merely hung like a dead weight in his arms.

“I’m taking you back to base,” he told her as he stumbled through the grass. His back was killing him already. “They’ll fix up whatever...whatever’s happened to you.”

“I’m taking you back to base,” Jodie mumbled from his arms. “They’ll fix up whatever...whatever’s happened to you.”

“Christ,” Seb muttered.

“Christ...”

~*~

  
John Smith didn’t officially work at Torchwood but it didn’t stop him from popping in at all hours of the day and night to help out with cases or steal alien paraphernalia to take home and catalogue. Affectionately nicknamed ‘the Doctor’ because of his penchant for fixing things, he was well liked by the other employees and could often as not be seen on the arm of one Rose Tyler – Vitex heiress and alien expert extraordinaire.

Now as it so happened their particular relationship was one under constant speculation – particularly about the circumstances under which they first met – but they did their best to ignore the fanciful rumours and live as their fellow employees did – eating chips and chasing aliens.

Well...maybe not chips all the time.

“What’s this?” the Doctor demanded, stealing Rose’s fork and poking suspiciously about in her lunch. “It’s _green_.”

“Its _salad_ ,” Rose stole her fork back and speared a piece of tomato with it. “An’ don’t you dare tease me about eating it. M’not nineteen anymore and I need to watch what I eat else I’ll end up as big as a Zeppelin.”

“But you’re not overweight,” the Doctor frowned. “You’re probably one of the least...fat people I know!”

“Says the man who’s so skinny he could make a paperclip jealous,” came an amused voice from the doorway and the Doctor and Rose both grinned as Marion Reed made her dignified way into the room and over to her desk with her own lunch offering. “I see you’ve made it your business to make sure that you visit when our Rose is having her lunch so you don’t interrupt any of her _very important paperwork_. That’s so considerate of you John.”

“Quite,” the Doctor’s mouth twitched. He very much liked Marion, she was nearing forty and had a very dry sense of humour that he had a bad habit of falling victim to. Slightly built, her dark hair bounced in the most amazing ringlets and she sported a rather lovely collection of smile lines around her dark eyes. “So what’s new in the world of Miss Marion Reed?”

“Oh not a whole lot,” Marion said absently but then turned suddenly serious as she began to unpack her plastic container of Korean food from the shop down the road. Even from across the room the Doctor could smell the whiff of spices and hot meat that escaped along with the steam. “But I did see something interesting on the way up here. Sebastian went out on a field trip with Jodie Trammel today...”

“S’that the new girl we had in here the other day?” Rose queried, shovelling in another mouthful of salad and the Doctor took advantage of her distraction to steal a piece of celery and then an olive. It wasn’t chips but at least salad was better than nothing – the speed of his human metabolism was nothing short of ridiculous. “Wasn’t she the one who did army training?”

“Mmn. Yeah. Anyway,” Marion said distractedly as she began to poke about in her noodles with her chopsticks. “They went out today – Jodie’s first field mission.”

“How’d she do?” Rose pressed as the Doctor crunched away on a piece of carefully stolen lettuce.

“Well apparently she freaked out a bit when she saw whatever the hell it was that they were meant to be checking out,” Marion used her chopsticks to accentuate her point. “Especially when it went and imploded on them.”

The Doctor’s ears pricked up at this but as Rose chose that moment to choke on a lettuce leaf he was forced to pat her on the back instead of asking Marion what sort of object they had been looking at.

“Oh my God!” Rose said once she’d finished choking. “They alright?”

Marion shrugged and slurped the end of a noodle up into her mouth. “Depends on what you mean by alright. Seb’s got a few bumps and bruises – nothing major. Jodie’s just acting weird. They think she might’ve gone into shock.”

“What sort of weird?” the Doctor prompted quietly, intrigued now.

“Well apparently she’s repeating things,” Marion frowned and shook her head. “Whatever people say to her or around her...”

“Everything?” he interrupted sharply and Rose stilled at his tone. “She’s repeating everything?”

“I guess so,” Marion looked puzzled. “I only know what I heard and...”

But the Doctor had already jumped down off the desk. “Is she in isolation?” he demanded.

“I-don’t...” Marion dropped her chopsticks in surprise. “Yes I-I think so. John, why...?”

The Doctor held out a hand, “Come on,” but Rose had already dropped her fork and stood, automatically reaching for his hand.

“Wait, what about your lunch?” Marion rose to call them back but they had already disappeared out the doorway. Grumbling to herself, she made her way over to Rose’s desk and replaced the lid on her salad. “Bloody kids,” she muttered.

~*~

  
“D’you know what’s wrong with her?” Rose asked breathlessly as the two of them pelted down the stairs that led to solitary confinement. “Can you fix it?”

“I don’t know if I can fix it,” the Doctor admitted. “But I think I’ve got a fair idea of what’s wrong with her yeah.”

Together they clattered down a hallway and then came to a skidding halt at a security door. Pressing her pass card against a panel in the wall to grant them access, Rose tapped her foot as it scanned and the Doctor fidgeted restlessly beside her. She had strict rules about the Doctor using his sonic screwdriver to open doors at Torchwood after he’d been caught in various restricted parts of the building and gotten her into trouble. “So what is it then? A...disease?” she guessed. “Some sort of...I dunno alien possession?”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor muttered as the door finally whooshed open and the two of them clamoured into the corridor beyond. “Hopefully I can figure it out this time.”

“What d’you mean this time?” Rose asked, worried but the Doctor didn’t answer.

Several corridors and security scans later they emerged into an observation room. Seb was watching the proceedings nervously whilst two others, a man and a woman in lab coats observed their quarry through a large window set over an impressively large computer system.

Jodie was crouched on the floor in a simple hospital gown, nodes attached to her temples and various pulse points. She was staring straight ahead, eyes blank, occasionally twitching slightly.

“Oh,” Rose said softly when she saw her. “The poor thing.”

“Rose?” Seb said when he turned to see who had entered the room. “John? What are you doing down here?”

“We heard about Jodie,” Rose explained, finally tearing her eyes away from the window. “And the Do- I mean, John thinks he might know what’s wrong with her.”

“That so?” the male technician turned around in interest. He had a strong Irish accent and a broad, pleasant face. “I’m Kile,” he offered a hand and the Doctor shook it cordially. “This is Julia.”

“Yes,” the Doctor said, smiling broadly. “Lovely to meet you both. Though I wish it were for more pleasant reasons...”

“Yes well,” Kile said uncomfortably. “You’ve come to offer us a diagnosis have you...?” he squinted at the visitors pass hastily pinned to the Doctors waistcoat. “Dr. Smith.”

“Wellll...I’d like to study the patient first if that’s alright with you,” the Doctor said modestly. “Just to make sure that I’m correct in my assumptions. I might be completely wrong.”

“Hardly likely,” Seb muttered but he looked amused nonetheless.

“You’ll have to have a weapon on you if you go in there,” Julia, the female lab technician warned without even turning around.

“No thanks,” the Doctor said simply, appealing to Seb. “Nothing doing Seb. You know I don’t like guns.”

“You can have mine,” Rose offered and he grimaced. “Or maybe I could go in with you and...”

“No,” he snapped and everyone in the room stared. “I mean,” the Doctor struggled to compose himself again. “I think it would be safer if I went in there alone.”

Rose crossed her arms. “Fine,” she said, glaring a little. “I’ll just watch from in here shall I?”

Sebastian and Kile glanced between the two of them and even Julia looked over her shoulder, eyebrow arched in interest.

“Yeah. That’d be lovely,” the Doctor said finally as he made his way over to the door, ignoring the heat of her glower as best he could.

Once he’d been through the decontamination chamber and been thoroughly disinfected he was able to enter the isolation chamber easily enough by touching the panel on the wall, reaching inside his pocket for his sonic screwdriver as he did so. At the sound of the doors mechanical whoosh, Jodie’s eyes snapped up and focused on him. The Doctor tried to repress a shudder and failed – Jodie’s eyes were a lovely pale blue, just like Sky Silvestri’s had been.

He had never forgotten the way that she had looked at him on Midnight, just as he had never dreamed that one day he would see that same expression on another person – a girl. Because that’s all she was really, a girl who probably wasn’t all that much older than Rose had been when he’d been travelling with her.

Silently he stepped over the threshold and made his way over to where Jodie was crouched. On closer inspection it seemed that some of the nodes that had been attached to her had loosened. Instead of trying to replace them, the Doctor merely crouched down in front of her and studied her.

“Jodie?” he said softly. The girl stared at him and tilted her head curiously.

“Jodie?” she echoed.

“Oh lovely,” he scrubbed his face enthusiastically with his hands. “That’s just brilliant.”

“Oh lovely,” Jodie said flatly. “That’s just brilliant.”

After a few simple scans with the sonic screwdriver garnered no real evidence apart from slightly elevated activity in the brain, the Doctor tried speaking to her again.

“Hello Jodie. I’m John Smith – I’m a doctor.”

“Hello Jodie. I’m John Smith – I’m a doctor.”

He paused before he continued on, her following along a word or two behind. “Now Jodie I think I know what’s happening to you but I’m going to need some time. Really, I am so sorry that this has happened to you – I know how scared you must be. But I’m going to do everything I can to fix it. I promise.”

Once she’d finished repeating him, Jodie blinked once and then cocked her head at him.

The Doctor, feeling rather helpless, stood and exited without another word.

“Nobody else is allowed to speak to her until I say you can,” he said as he emerged from the decontamination chamber. “It’s too dangerous for this thing to progress any further.”

Seb and Rose glanced up questioningly but Kile and Julia merely stared at him blankly.

“Now I need to know if you’ve taken blood samples at all?” the Doctor continued. “Because if you have I’d like to take a look at them and if not then I think we need to get some. I’d also like to get her brain scanned for unusual activity – I don’t suppose Torchwood has an MRI machine somewhere down here do they?”

“Unfortunately no,” Seb said dryly. “And in any case, we’re getting brain wave information from the nodes on her temples.”

“But half of them are coming off,” the Doctor frowned. “They’re not stuck on properly.”

“Well her readings seem quite normal,” Julia said, gesturing to the computer readouts. “See?”

“Well the readings I just did with my handy dandy little gadget right here...” the Doctor twirled his sonic screwdriver. “...say that her readings are not entirely normal. Sorry to disappoint you. Now about that blood?”

“We’ve already sent the samples up to lab 260,” Seb said, automatically reaching for a pad of paper and a pen. His hands shook as he wrote something out and then folded it and handed it to the Doctor. “Give this to Thomas Neville – he’s the head lab technician up there. He’ll help you with whatever you need.”

“Oh,” surprised, the Doctor took the folded slip carefully and pocketed it. He wasn’t used to getting such free reign here – not being employed by Torchwood he usually had to fight tooth and claw to be allowed to help them or else he had to sneak around behind peoples backs. “Thank you Seb.”

Seb waved a dismissive hand. “I’ll give you permission to do whatever tests you need to do if it’ll get Jodie better,” he said flatly. “She was my responsibility and I let her down. If you can fix this...”

“I’ll do everything I can,” the Doctor promised then turned to Rose. “Rose, I need you to stay here and keep an eye on Jodie. If her condition changes – anything at all – then you need to get me down here straight away. Alright?”

She nodded curtly, not quite meeting his eyes. “Yeah alright. Come back quick yeah? And don’t lick anything toxic.”

“I’ll do my best,” he smiled tightly and on a whim, kissed her cheek. Rose looked slightly mollified at this and the Doctor backed out of the door. “I’ll be back.”

As soon as he was in the corridor, the Doctor began to run.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a Torchwood employee seemingly becomes afflicted by the same force that the Doctor faced on Midnight it’s a race against time for him to try and save her life before the situation escalates out of control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anybody yells at me for leaving this story on such a cliffhanger - _there will be an epilogue._ Cheers =)

After nearly an hour spent in Laboratory 260 poring over glass slides, computer readouts and various pieces of (frankly) primitive machinery trying to get some sort of result – the Doctor had discovered that this thing, whatever it was...did not seem to affect the blood.

“Sorry I couldn’t be much help,” Dr. Thomas Neville said morosely. He had turned out to be a balding man who despite his advanced age sported the sleekest, most fantastic pair of tortoiseshell glasses the Doctor had ever seen. He was very tempted to ask him where he’d gotten them from – his own brainy specs had been left in his brown suit and he still often found himself reaching for them only to come up empty handed. “Seems that whatever this thing is it doesn’t affect the blood.”

“So it seems,” the Doctor clapped him on the shoulder grimly. “Thank you Dr. Neville. You’ve been very helpful.”

“Me?” Neville chuckled uncertainly. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Gave me someone to bounce ideas off,” the Doctor grinned. “Always helpful! Anyway, must be off. Next step is...well look at the brainwaves I suppose. See how they’ve progressed. Maybe do an examination of the body.”

“Good luck!” Neville waved even as the Doctor charged out of the door, pulling his mobile from his pocket as he went.

Rose’s phone rang twice before it was picked up. Not even waiting for her to say hello, he leapt straight into the conversation.

“Rose,” he said as he came up short in front of the elevators. “I’m coming back down again. I can’t get anything from the blood so I was thinking that maybe...”

“It’s Seb actually,”

The Doctor paused as he clambered into the elevator and pressed the basement level button. “Oh,” he said. Then, “Where’s Rose?”

“She’s...well she’s...” Seb coughed. “She’s with Jodie.”

His stomach felt like it had dropped right out of the bottom of him, plummeting down to the basement level where he so desperately wanted to be.

“What the _hell_ did you let her go in there for?” the Doctor spluttered as he began to frantically pummel the button for the basement level to no avail. The lift continued on just as smoothly as before. “I told you – all of you – that nobody was allowed to go in there until...”

“I told her not to go in,” Seb said irritably. “But she didn’t listen to me – as usual. Bloody stubborn woman. Don’t know how you can live with her.”

“I don’t care how stubborn she is,” the Doctor snapped as the lift doors finally opened. He burst out into the corridor and began to sprint towards the stairs. “Seb, listen to me – you’ve got to get her out of there. _Now_.”

“She’s only trying to help Jodie...” Seb mumbled, sounding put out.

“Oh trust me,” the Doctor said grimly as he began to jump down the stairs three at a time. “She’s not helping Jodie by being in there.”

“Well what exactly does this thing do John?” Seb demanded. “It can’t be anything good or you wouldn’t be so bloody worried.”

“Look I’ll explain later!” the Doctor all but shouted. He was beginning to get a bit breathless from all the running and talking. “Just get Rose out!”

Hanging up abruptly he concentrated on the path he had taken earlier with Rose. Left, right, right again, down the stairs, through the door...or not. Coming up to a screeching halt in front of the first security door the Doctor patted frantically at his pockets then swore loudly when he realised that he hadn’t thought to borrow Rose’s swipe card. He was locked out.

“Sonic it is,” he muttered, pulling it out and quickly disabling the lock. Two doors later he finally lost his patience and merely began blowing up the control panels. Torchwood could fix them later – Rose was not expendable.

Exactly two minutes and thirty six seconds later he burst into the observation room accompanied by a flurry of sparks and smoke.

“Oi!” Seb said, affronted. “You can’t just blow up the...”

“Too late,” the Doctor said as he came to the observation window. “I just did. Three of them actually. Now tell me Seb,” he turned back to him, teeth gritted and with the air of a man very close to punching a wall. “Why Rose is still in there with Jodie?”

Seb shifted uncomfortably. “Just after you hung up they started talking at the same time.”

The Doctor snapped his attention back to the window, horrified. Rose was kneeling in front of Jodie, gazing intently at the young girls face and then right on cue they both spoke simultaneously, their voices slightly tinny on the speakers in the observation room.

“It’s amazing,” Kile breathed. He glanced up at the Doctor before refocusing his attention back to the two women in the isolation chamber. “Isn’t it? It’s almost like its...learning, progressing.”

“Oh yes,” he agreed grimly. “That’s exactly what its doing.”

“She knows exactly what Rose is going to say at the exact moment she says it,” Julia was just as dumbstruck as her counterpart. “How is she doing that? Dr. Smith?”

But he ignored her, instead reaching for the button that allowed them to broadcast their voices from the observation room back into the isolation chamber beyond.

“Rose?”

Rose and Jodie both turned towards the window at the same time.

“Can you hear what she’s doing?” they said at the same time, clearly still Rose’s words. “She’s saying what I am at exactly the same time! How’s she doing that?”

“Rose you need to stop,” the Doctor said, trying not to let his voice sound too desperate. The last thing he needed was to start a panic. “I need you to stop talking and come back out again. There’s nothing more we can do for Jodie right now.”

“But it’s changing,” Rose and Jodie said, turning back to face each other. “First she was copying and now she’s saying what I am only at the exact same time.”

“Rose...”

“But why’s she doing it?” Rose wondered, Jodie a frightening monotone chorus. “ _How’s_ she doing it?”

“Please Rose,” he pleaded. “Just come out.”

“Oh Doctor, _really_. I’m fine,” the two of them snapped. “She’s not even dangerous – just look at her!”

“Look,” he said shortly. “Please, just come out. I promise I’ll explain everything to you but...”

“I don’t care,” Jodie said suddenly.

Everyone in the observation room froze.

“I don’t care,” Rose said slowly.

“And she doesn’t want to come out.”

“And she doesn’t want to come out.”

“Oh no,” the Doctor pushed a desperate hand into his hair and soon enough it was followed by the other. “Oh this is...this is not...”

“It’s gone into Rose,” Seb breathed. “Now _she’s_ repeating!”

“Yes,” Jodie nodded sagely, slowly rising to her feet. Rose stayed crouched, eyes wide and hair swinging forward to obscure her face but as Jodie continued they could all hear her voice, repeating just as Jodie had done. “I’m free now. I’m safe. It’s gone into her.”

“It hasn’t gone into Rose,” the Doctor argued. “That’s not how this thing works! It’s still inside Jodie, don’t let it fool you.”

“But just... _look_ at them!” Seb said.

“Yes,” Jodie agreed, followed shortly by Rose. “Look at me. I can move. And now she can’t.”

“That’s only because the thing inside Jodie has stolen Rose’s voice,” the Doctor argued.

“No, it passed into Rose,” Kile argued. “I saw it.”

“Oh my God,” Julia gasped suddenly. “What if it’s contagious?”

“Well it seems to have gone into Rose now,” Kile said, suddenly worrying at his fingernail. “Which means that it has the potential to pass from one person to another. Maybe...maybe it’s a new kind of disease?”

“Look stop it!” the Doctor said, furious. “None of you have ever seen this thing before or been possessed by it – you don’t understand what it’s doing!”

“It _is_ contagious!” Julia shrieked suddenly, pointing a shaking finger at the Doctor. “You gave it to Jodie!”

“I did what?” the Doctor said, baffled.

“You must’ve done!” she continued to blather. “You just said you’ve seen this happen before – you’ve been exposed to it haven’t you? You must’ve passed it on to her!”

“Whoa, now wait, hold on...”

“But he cant’ve infected Jodie,” Seb interrupted. “He’s never even met her until today.”

“Exactly,” the Doctor agreed, relieved. “If anyone should be under suspicion it should be you lot, not me!”

“You’re right!” Julia immediately turned on Seb. “You were out there all alone with that poor girl – anything could’ve happened!”

The Doctor was aghast. “Seb wouldn’t have...”

“I didn’t – why would I ever,” Seb began to splutter. “What kind of person do you think-?”

“He did it,” Jodie said suddenly, edging towards the glass. Behind her Rose continued to repeat her words. “He spoke to me. He progressed the virus.”

“It’s a virus,” Julia whimpered and crossed herself. “Oh Lord help us – we’ll all be infected!”

“It’s not a virus and I didn’t progress it this far,” Seb babbled, pointing an accusing finger towards the observation window. “Rose did!”

“Well we should get rid of her then before it moves on from her.” Kile stood abruptly and put his hand out to Seb. “Where’s your gun?”

The Doctor’s jaw dropped. “You can’t just – what do you think – Seb don’t give him the gun!”

Seb gripped the firearm in both hands, clearly torn.

“Please let me out,” Jodie pleaded from behind the window, laying her palms flat against it. “Please. I don’t want to get re-infected.”

Julia made as if to move towards the door but stopped when the Doctor all but spat at her, “Don’t. Move.”

“But Doctor she’s frightened, can’t you see?” Julia looked hopelessly at where Jodie stood, staring desperately through the window. “It’s alright darling,” she called. “We’ll get you out in a jiffy.”

“No,” the Doctor insisted. “We need to get Rose out...”

“But she’s infected!”

“She’s not infected!”

“Then why’s she acting like that?” Julia demanded. “She’s doing exactly what Jodie did! Look, she can’t move.”

“No. She can’t,” Jodie agreed, glancing back at Rose who was still immobile, still repeating. “It’s taken over her – like it took over me. But I’m better now. So much better. Please let me out? Please?”

“I still say we get rid of her,” Kile muttered. “Get rid of Rose and we can stop this thing right now before it goes any further.”

“We’re not getting rid of anyone,” the Doctor snapped. “Now just shut up for a minute and listen to me.”

Julia and Kile both glared at him but they didn’t argue any further so he pressed on, trying to keep his voice calm despite the thundering of his heart.

“This thing – whatever it is – it meddles with your thoughts,” he explained slowly. “It twists things around, makes you paranoid – it makes you suspect people.”

“Yeah?” Kile said viciously. “Well I suspect that your girlfriend is infected with some alien life form and if we don’t stop it now then it could be one of us next!”

“How many...it’s not _in_ Rose!” the Doctor said exasperatedly.

“So you keep saying,” Julia said suspiciously. “How do we know if you’re even telling the truth? We don’t even know you!”

“And then there’s all those rumours about you,” Kile chipped in unexpectedly.

“What rumours?” the Doctor demanded as everyone shuffled about awkwardly and avoided his gaze. “ _What_ rumours?”

“About you,” Seb said eventually, he was still gripping onto his gun but as he spoke he took it in one hand. “That you’re not really human at all. That you’re from another whole universe even.”

“Oh don’t be ridiculous,” the Doctor scoffed. Both he and Rose were used to being subjected to questions about whatever nonsense the tabloids had printed up about them but it didn’t make it any easier to lie about – especially when those who were doing the writing were often very close to the truth. “You honestly don’t believe all that do you?”

“Dunno,” Kile grunted. “You tell us.”

“He is,” they all jumped at the sound of Jodie’s voice. “He’s an alien. He’s from another world. Another universe.”

The Doctor blanched. “Stop it,” he said. “Just stop it now.”

“I know all about him,” Jodie continued, eyes glinting. “Because _she_ knows all about him. He’s a freak of nature. An abomination.”

“He’s a freak of nature,” Rose’s voice echoed blankly and hearing the words coming from her mouth, repeated or not, made the Doctor go cold. “An abomination.”

“Well that’s it then,” Kile said.

The Doctor jumped as he felt cold glass and realised that he’d somehow managed to back himself up against the door leading into the decontamination chamber – when had he done that? In front of him Seb, Julia and Kile were moving into an unmistakable semi circle – a defensive shape.

No way out.

“He infected me,” Jodie said, smiling gleefully now. The echo of Rose’s voice was growing smaller and smaller. “He planted the container. The canister in the field. He made it implode.”

“I didn’t!” he protested. “She’s lying!”

“And now Rose is infected,” Jodie said. “And you all will be too if you don’t get rid of them both.”

“From her own mouth,” Kile said. “It’s him. It’s been him all along – coming down here, pretending he could help when all along he just wanted to spread this virus!”

“That doesn’t make any sense!” the Doctor was really struggling to stop himself from going into a full blown panic. Both his adrenal and his sweat glands were working overtime and he couldn’t do anything much to control them. Fight or flight was a human trait that he still hadn’t mastered control over. “Why would I put Rose into danger? I love her!”

“Don’t be stupid,” Kile sneered. “Aliens can’t fall in love!”

Seb raised his gun with trembling hands and Julia watched him with an unhealthy amount of anticipation.

“I’m sorry John,” Seb whispered. “I’m so sorry...”

And it was this that finally prompted the Doctor to cut and run.

Pressing the release button on the door, he ducked inside the decontamination chamber just as Seb recovered his wits enough to fire. Luckily, the bullet couldn’t penetrate the glass and the Doctor laughed.

“Ooh I love this unbreakable glass,” he patted it fondly and grinned cheekily, ducking when Kile’s face twisted and he snatched the gun off Seb to shoot another three bullets into the door in rapid succession.

As the vents overheard flooded the room with foul smelling antiseptic he calculated exactly how much time he would have inside the isolation chamber before the others could come in after him. These cells had been specifically designed so that only one door could be open at a time but he would still be cutting it quite fine.

“Nineteen point zero three seconds,” he concluded grimly, positioning himself by the next door which he had already calculated would take just over four seconds to open and another four to close once he was inside.

The antiseptic hissed to a stop and he slammed his hand down on the panel, willing it to work faster.

“Please, please, please,” he muttered. The panel bleeped at him and the door slid open. Moments after he had slipped inside, he heard the other three come barrelling into the decontamination chamber behind him and then cry out angrily when they realised they had to wait to come in after him.

Twenty seconds of disinfecting and they’d go for the panel too. Four point zero one five seconds for the door to open fully. Somehow in twenty four point zero one five seconds he had to convince this thing to get out of Jodie and to give Rose back her voice.

Well...he’d done more impossible things in less time.

Jodie had turned to face him, smiling craftily as he dropped to his knees beside Rose, arms curling automatically around her shoulders.

“Leave her,” he said imploringly. “Take me if you want but leave Rose. She doesn’t deserve this.”

Underneath his hands he felt Rose shudder and he turned to glance at her. Although she couldn’t move, she looked utterly terrified, eyes wide and – his single heart clenched painfully in his chest – tears running down her cheeks and plopping gently on the floor.

“Oh I don’t think so,” Jodie smiled, and Rose mumbled the words in return. “She’s mine now. Soon she will die and then I will move on.”

“Move onto what?” Jodie said nothing and the Doctor felt a surge of anger. She was wasting time of which he had precious little. “Move onto what?!”

Jodie merely smiled even wider. She looked quite demented now, eyes wide and staring.

“What exactly is it that you want from us?” the Doctor tried a new angle. “You must want something to have travelled so far.”

“Of course I want something,” Jodie said primly. “But you’re in no position to give it to me.”

“Anything,” the Doctor insisted. “It’s not too late. If you stop this – if you release Jodie and Rose – then I can help you. I’ll get you whatever you need and then you can go back home to Midnight where you belong.”

“And miss all the fun here?” Jodie shook her head pityingly at him. “You don’t know us very well do you?”

“I know you well enough,” he said grimly. “Now this is your last chance. Leave these people be.”

“Or you’ll what?” Jodie looked suddenly amused. “Stop me?”

“Yes,”

Jodie laughed. “Oh _Doctor_ ,” she said emphatically and cold sweat broke out across his brow at the knowing look in her eyes. “Not even you can stop us!”

“What did you just call me?” he whispered.

Jodie laughed again as the door behind him whooshed open.

“Stand aside!” Kile yelled. “Or I’ll shoot you too!”

“Yes!” Jodie said gleefully. “Shoot him too! He’s contracted the virus as well.”

“Yes,” Rose agreed, voice trembling. “Shoot him too. He’s contracted the virus as well.”

The Doctor pushed himself to his feet, words dying in his throat as Kile levelled Seb’s gun at his head.

“Any last words?” he said.

“Please,” the Doctor said quietly. “Don’t make me do this.”

Kile looked momentarily confused at his choice of words before redoubling his hold on the gun and preparing to fire.

A shot rang out, startlingly loud in the confined space.

Julia screamed.

And then Jodie collapsed to the ground.


	3. Recurrence (Aftermath)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And after the climax there was a conclusion.

It was hours before the Doctor was finally able to be alone with Rose. After the medical team had treated them all for shock they had then been subjected to endless interviews, the writing of incident reports and then a particularly horrible moment where Jodie’s parents had come in to identify their daughter’s body and learn what had happened to her.

Seb was an absolute wreck – distraught with guilt and blaming himself for everything that had happened to Jodie. Julia and Kile had been similarly upset when they had come back to themselves although the Doctor suspected that it was probably the shock talking rather than any real amount of remorse. For his part, the impact of Jodie’s death had created a strange and hollow emptiness that made his chest ache. The loss of someone so young had affected him in a much keener way then Sky’s death had – despite his fledgling acquaintance with Sky and his lack thereof with Jodie.

As far as the Doctor was concerned it had gone from a good day to a positively awful one with far too much ease. And the most frustrating thing about it was that if everyone had just done as he had asked then he could have potentially fixed everything and Jodie wouldn’t have died – at his hand no less.

Back in Rose’s darkened office, sitting on the desk and turning his sonic screwdriver over in his hands he waited for her to return to him and for the inevitable confrontation. She had been too weak with fear when the spell of the creature had broken to berate him but her heated glances at him left him in no doubt at all that she was going to give him a good talking to.

He wasn’t entirely sure that he deserved to be grilled after saving her life but considering the means in which he had done so...luckily Pete had whisked her away for a serious conversation about the day’s events almost an hour ago and she had yet to return. And so he waited anxiously for her, trying to forget how cold and alien her gun had felt in his hand, the recoil as he fired...

Shuffling uneasily he heard a clatter of plastic and discovered that her lunch salad sat forgotten on the desk beside him, the lettuce leaves wilting and turning brown already. _Everything dies_. This observation only made him feel even more depressed so he shoved the lunchbox angrily down the other end and then continued to fidget with the sonic screwdriver.

When the door finally opened quietly behind him he didn’t move and for a long moment neither did she. Then there was the clicking of footsteps that led to the desk and Rose jumped up so she was sitting beside him, their thighs touching. He said nothing, merely pocketing his sonic screwdriver in readiness, and after several minutes she was the one to finally break the constricting silence between them.

“The Trammel’s aren’t going to press charges,” she said quietly. “Dad managed to convince them that you acted out of self defence.”

More silence and then a small nod.

Rose glanced at him sideways and then shook her head at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

The Doctor sighed. “I thought I could handle it.” he murmured.

“That’s not what I meant Doctor,” Rose said dangerously, her voice building towards a slow crescendo. “Why would you keep me in the dark like that? Swanning off to do research and then expecting me to just sit by and watch Jodie like...”

“I ran into that thing when I was travelling with Donna,” he interrupted her suddenly, shortly. “Not long before the stars started going out really and I – well...” he found himself stuttering and took a breath. “I spoke to the woman who was infected or...or possessed or...Sky her name was. Sky. And whatever it was that was inside her took my voice just like it took yours.”

There was a sudden nudge against his hand and he realised that Rose had begun to twine her fingers with his. After glancing gratefully at her he looked straight ahead and took a breath, aware of how focused her gaze was on him.

“I nearly got thrown outside the craft we were in,” he continued, voice bleak. “If the stewardess hadn’t gotten to Sky first then the other passengers would’ve...” the Doctor stopped and threaded his fingers a little tighter through Rose’s, swallowed against the lump that was putting so much pressure on his throat. “This is...I’ve not really spoken about this since...”

He choked suddenly and as silence fell once again Rose squeezed his fingers.

“The stewardess?” she prompted gently.

“She...died. To save us – well, to save me. Incinerated in the atmosphere,” he shook his head in remorse. “I never even knew her name.”

In his peripheral vision Rose bit her lip for a moment. “You never told me,” she said simply, voice quiet and trembling with emotion.

“Why would I?” He asked, turning to her in disbelief. “I don’t need to share the burden of all my nightmares with you.”

“Doctor...”

“You know I honestly believed that I could save her?” he cut across her, frustration twisting his voice. “If I’d just had a little bit more time and...I’m sure that I...” anger flared up in him unexpectedly and he snatched his hand out of hers. “Why couldn’t you just leave her?” he demanded. “Why did you have to go in there? If you hadn’t been so stubborn...”

“Don’t you dare get angry at me!” Rose snapped, angry tears trembling on her lower lashes as she jumped to her feet. “I was tryin’ to help her!”

“So was I!” the Doctor roared. “But oh no you just had to go in there and look after the poor innocent little girl didn’t you? You’ve always been so bloody sentimental! From the second you walked in there and started babbling away to her...”

“Well what was I supposed to do?” Rose countered furiously, tears slipping rapidly down her cheeks now. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe you should’ve told me what we were up against? If I’d known then I never would’ve...” she gasped out a sob and turned away from him, fists clenched and shoulders stiff. “God! I never would’ve gone in there if I’d known!”

The Doctor stared helplessly at her for a moment and then came to stand behind her, touching his fingertips to her shoulders. Rose gave one shuddering, silent sob and then reached up to grasp both of his hands. He responded by stepping forward until he could embrace her properly.

“Sorry,” he whispered against her ear. The word felt strangely foreign on his tongue and for a moment he wondered if he might have accidentally said it in Gallifreyan. “I never thought...I didn’t mean...I’m so sorry Rose.”

“That girl is _dead_ ,” Rose whispered. “And we could’ve stopped it from happening.”

The Doctor dropped his eyes, surprising even himself when he felt his chest tighten around the throbbing ache of loss. Beneath his embrace she shuddered with a silent sob and in return his view of her hair began to waver as his eyes overflowed. Hurriedly he shut them and pressed his face into her neck, feeling each hot tear as it leaked into her hair.

“I was so scared,” Rose whimpered and his tears fell thicker, faster. “When it took my voice...I’ve never been so scared before. Not ever.”

“I know,” he whispered, tightening his hold on her and opening bleary eyes so he could stroke her hair. “I know and I’m so sorry. I wish I’d told you...”

“Stop it,” Rose said suddenly, turning to him. Sniffing, she wiped her face and then her nose before reaching up to touch his face with trembling fingers. “It’s done now. It’s done. We’re still alive.”

“We are,” he agreed, still trembling slightly.

Rose sniffed again once more and then let out a huff of air that could have almost been a sob. “Take me home?” she requested.

They left the Torchwood building together; tear streaked, pale and gripping hands tight enough to bruise.


End file.
